1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains in general to electronic transactions, and more specifically to managing acceptances of legal documents pertinent to transactions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Different types of transactions occur over the Internet every day, such as a user purchasing an item from a merchant or a user registering to use a service. Usually involved with each transaction are one or more legal documents. The legal documents describe terms to which parties involved with the transaction must abide and other disclosures relevant to the transaction. For example, legal documents associated with a user registering to use a service may include terms such as the required age of the user, service fees, limitations on the use of the service, and the process for resolving a dispute.
Oftentimes, the transaction cannot be performed unless one or more parties involved assent to the terms described by the legal documents associated with the transaction. For example, in order to complete the registration to use a service, the user registering for the service must accept the terms of certain legal documents provided by the service provider. However, determining which legal documents to present to a user for a transaction is difficult because various factors are involved in the determination. Factors involved may for example include: the parties involved in the transaction, the locations of the parties, the type of the transaction, terms of legal documents the user has previously accepted, and changes to the transaction terms for legal or other reasons. Thus, there is a need in the art for an efficient way to determine which legal documents to present to a user as part of a transaction.